IN POVERTY THREATENED BY MALNUTRITION AND DISEASE, IN WEAKNESS BY WAR, IN RICHNESS BY THE POLLUTION BROUGHT ABOUT BY (OUR) OWN PROSPERITY." Kartikeya V. Sarabhai In "Silent Spring" Rachel Carson warned, in 1962, "The most alarming of all man's assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and the sea with dangerous and even lethal materials. This pollution is for the most part irrecoverable; the chain of evil it initiates not only in the world that must support life but in living tissues is for the most part irreversible. In this now universal contamination of the environment, chemicals are the sinister and little recognized partners of radiation in changing the very nature of the world - the very nature of its life." It took nearly a decade before the world took a serious view of this. The conference on the Human Environment organized by the United Nations in Stockholm, Sweden in June 1972 was the first major step. It was there that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was created and the opening day of the conference, June 5 was declared as the World Environment Day. Indira Gandhi was the only head of government other than Olof Palme, Sweden's Prime Minister to attended this conference. Clearly, India cared about the environment. In her speech to the delegates she observed "It is sad that in country after country, progress should become synonymous with an assault on nature." She went on to point out the irony that that human beings were "In poverty threatened by malnutrition and disease, in weakness by war, in richness by the pollution brought about by (our) own prosperity." She was clear that "Pollution is not a technical problem. The fault lies not in science and technology as such but in the sense of values of the contemporary world which ignores the rights of others and is oblivious of the longer perspective." India not only talked but also walked the line. Effluent treatment became compulsory in 1974 with the promulgation of the Water Pollution (Prevention & Control) Act. These measures were further strengthened through the Environment Protection Act of 1986. The effluent quality norms stated therein governed the levels of contaminants in the effluents that could be thrown out into different systems. By 1995 the concept of common effluent treatment had come about. For monitoring the Central (CPCB) and the State Pollution Control Boards were setup in 1974. But these mechanisms were inadequate. Very few polluters were actually stopped or made to pay for the havoc their effluents were creating. The developed world meanwhile began to protect its environment seriously. As a result, many industries became unviable or were banned in the west. These included industries which would manufacture several dye intermediates derived particularly from heterocyclic compounds; viz. H acid, K acid, vinyl sulphone, etc. Of all the industries these were the "dirtiest' because of the terrible impact they had on the environment and all life in it. But it was the manufacturing thatw as banned, not teh use of these chemicals. The simple solution was to outsource the production to less environmentally conscious countries like India. Gujarat was especially quick to set up "new" chemical industries were set up. Between 1991 to 2005 1642 new projects come up and only a PIL in1995 and a landmark judgment closed 650 industries. The unsustainability of past industrial choices has become undeniable. The emphasis now is on sustainable development, which is only possible through cleaner methods of production. Making the right choices based on the principals of cleaner technologies for cleaner production is the only viable solution. The slogan for the World Environment Day 2008 for India is "Pick Right". All of us need to make the right choices to make our world sustainable. (The author is the Director of CEE)